Jeremy Mitchell, Freelancer
Special to the Times-Gazette
This past June, the community of El Dorado was shaken when a student from El Dorado Middle School took his own life after falling victim to a sextortion crime on a social media application. Now, the El Dorado School District is teaming up with the El Dorado Police Department to present a town hall meeting from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), that will educate the public about online safety for children and financially motivated scams, including sextortion.
Sextortion crimes often target teenagers using popular social media applications and usually begin when an unsuspecting teen believes they are communicating with someone their own age. The criminals then often coerce the person into sending explicit or compromising photographs. Once in possession of these photos, they extort the victim by threatening to make the photos public, or to send the pictures to family and friends and sometimes even threatening with physical violence in exchange for additional photos or money.
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children provides information about sextortion on their website, https://ncmec.org/netsmartz/topics/sextortion. The website states that between 2021-2023, the number of online enticement reports to their CyberTipline increased by 300%, reaching 186,800 reports in 2023, 26,718 of which were for financial sextortion. This is an increase of more than 150% from the prior year when 10,731 financial sextortion cases were reported.
This increase in sextortion crimes is reflected in local police reports as well. The Butler County Sheriff’s Office posts public watch summaries on its Facebook page with basic details regarding dispatch calls. On August 1, they posted their July 27-29 public watch summary which indicated that they responded to two separate reports of sextortion. In each case, the victim was coerced into sending explicit photographs. Then the criminal demanded money, or they would release the photographs to family and friends, according to the summaries.
This dramatic rise in online exploitation cases, combined with its local impact, demonstrates a community need for more information.
Chief Michael Holton of the El Dorado Police Department said the town hall is a great opportunities for parents to educate themselves as well as how to further protect their children from this crime.
“This is a very important topic for parents to be involved and educated on,” said Chief Holton.
The town hall meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 24 at 5:30pm, in the USD 490 Performing Arts Center located at 500 W. Central Avenue in El Dorado. For more information on online scams and internet safety, visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/scams-and-safety/common-frauds-and-scams/sextortion.
